Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho
by Dawnine Spivak
On This Page
Description
A simple retelling of the travels of seventeenth-century Japanese poet, Basho, across his island homeland. Includes examples of the haiku verses he composed.Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Probably not historically accurate. But interesting. Reminds me of Thoreau. Similarly not plausible. But worth thinking about.
This is a book about the Japanese poet Basho and his travels around Japan. The book includes some of his poems in translation as well as some Kanji, Japanese writing, and the meaning of the symbols. I think this would be appropriate for middle school and elementary school students. I would use this book as a hook in a lesson about culture and art forms in an historical context.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
A Child's Book Tour of Japan
58 works; 4 members
Five in a Row
144 works; 8 members
Five in a Row
174 works; 2 members
Youth: DEI
296 works; 2 members
Youth: Poetry
124 works; 1 member
Author Information
1 Work 253 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho
- Original title
- Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho
- Original publication date
- 1997
- People/Characters
- Matsuo Bashō
- Important places
- Japan
- Dedication
- For Sam Yamashita, who gave me the gift of Japanese literature, and for my sixteen-year-old daughter, Asha, who said, "Mom, nothing happens in the book" -- which is what Westerners say about Japanese writing.
-- D.S.
For children of all ages
-- Demi - First words
- There were old men of China who made themselves nests in trees and lived in the branches.
- Quotations
- A friend gave him a basho, or banana tree. He planted it near his house and liked this tree with ragged leaves so much that he changed his name to Basho.
alone in my house -- only the morning glories -- straggle to my door - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And so, three hundred years ago he traveled, and the world was his home.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)old and quiet pond -- suddenly a frog plops in -- a deep water sound - Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genre
- Poetry
- DDC/MDS
- 895.6 — Literature & rhetoric Literatures of other languages Literatures of East and Southeast Asia Japanese
- LCC
- PL794.4 .Z5 .O487 — Language and Literature Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Languages of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania Japanese language and literature Japanese literature Individual authors and works
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 253
- Popularity
- 128,062
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.12)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
